Which poses the greater danger – snakes or ladders? I understand both cause many injuries and deaths each year.

The World Health Organisation estimates that upwards of 20,000 people worldwide die from snakebite each year. The actual figure may be four to five times this because most snakebites go unrecorded. Fatalities are restricted mainly to poor countries. Australia records three to four deaths annually, Europe averages about one and the US, which has 25 indigenous species of venomous snakes, around 12.

In relation to falls, the WHO estimates the global annual death toll to be about 400,000, of which about 20% are falls from ladders. So ladders probably have the edge, except that, in those parts of the world where snakebite is most prominent, there are fewer tall buildings – indeed fewer buildings of any sort, and in consequence fewer ladders.

The UK takes pride in being one of the safest European countries in this respect, since a mere 14 fatalities due to falls from ladders are recorded annually. For the US, the figure is around 63, which makes it in fact slightly safer than the UK in terms of fatalities per head of population.

Terence Hollingworth, Blagnac, France

I would have thought ladders are more dangerous – it's difficult to walk under a snake.

The precis of Betjeman's poem (N&Q, 14 December), which runs "Regarding Slough Berks/The poet remarks/This town makes me vomit/ I wish they would bomb it" is even more wounding.

David Peet, London W2

The denigration of Gateshead in JB Priestley's English Journey of 1934 surely takes some beating. He wrote: "If there is any town of like size on the continent of Europe that can show a similar lack of civic dignity and all the evidence of an urban civilisation, I should like to know its name and quality. No true civilisation could have produced such a town, which is nothing better than a huge dingy dormitory." Priestley added that it appeared to have been designed "by an enemy of the human race".

Kevin Armstrong, Newcastle upon Tyne

I adore Jane Austen, but as a Brummie I am rather hurt by Mrs Elton in Emma who dismisses my home city with a succinct: "One has not great hopes of Birmingham. I always say there is something direful in the sound …"

Pam Connellan, Cambridge

Can't remember where I read it, but: "Not one German bomb dropped on Stoke-on-Trent in World War Two. This, apparently, was because a group of high-ranking Luftwaffe officers, grouped around a table and studying aerial reconnaissance photographs of the area, concluded it had already been bombed."

John Snow, Worcester

We know about the introduction of potatoes and tobacco to Europe, but whom do we thank for the introduction of chocolate?

Michael Vanheste's reply (N&Q, 14 December) is a good summary, but his answer for the etymology of the word "chocolate" is a little too concise. There's considerable disagreement on this. Another perfectly plausible explanation is that it derives from two Náhuatl (Aztec language) words, xoco- (the root for "bitter") and atl ("water") (note that the x is pronounced in Náhuatl like the English "sh").

Incidentally, the Aztec (nobles) drank their highly esteemed chocolate cold, pure, foaming and bitter – a world away from our modern chocolate. An excellent book on this subject is Sophie and Michael Coe's The True History of Chocolate.

Ian Mursell, London SW11

I had a girlfriend who was responsible for a good proportion of it.

EastFinchleyite

Is Neil Sedaka's "Oh Carol/I am but a fool/Darling I love you/Though you treat me cruel" the worst-ever rhyme in a popular song?

Re bad metaphors in pop songs: Duran Duran stake their claim in Is There Something I Should Know: "You're about as easy as a nuclear war".

Graham Larkbey, London E17

Since turning 50, I've found that without a post-prandial nap I feel weary and cannot concentrate; but after as little as two minutes' sleep I'm completely restored. What on earth happens in those two minutes?

Usually, about an hour.

John Carter, London SW19

Any answers?

Why can't we hear ourselves as others hear us? Is it a brain thing, or an ear thing? The first time I heard myself on tape, I had no idea who it was …

joedoone

Why are cooked tomatoes so much hotter than anything else on the plate?

Ruth Sinclair, Little Wilbraham, Cambs

Why is December 22 the shortest day this year? It's normally December 21, so what has caused the shift?